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Article: A Lingering Shakespearean Drama
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- October 30, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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On a recent weekday evening, the promise of literary heresy
brings an otherwise civil audience of150 to the Museum of
American History's Carmichael Auditorium. Attire confounds the
obligatory tweed: suits and smart dresses, denim and sweat shirts,
black combat boots. Throats are politely cleared, acknowledgments
nodded.
Tonight's attraction, sponsored by the Smithsonian Resident
Associates, is Charles Vere, Earl of Burford, who contends that the
William Shakespeare we've all learned about in school never existed.
A descendant of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, the
contemporary Vere claims that his forebear is the true Bard, the
author of the greatest poetry and plays in the ...